Hello there and Happy Sunday!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been off line for quite awhile. I have excuse after excuse, but it really boils down to just a few things; overwork, after school/work activities and trying to fit in some quiet and solitude to recharge. I bailed on this. Here's how last week shaped up:
Monday night, scouts with a patrol leaders meeting, home late
Tuesday, BSF, Bible Study Fellowship for me followed up with a conference call to China on some quality problems, ran really late
Wednesday, youth group for the boys, date night for Holly and I and then packing for camping this weekend
Thursday, left work a bit early to go Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to watch the Red Wings play the San Jose Sharks. The seats were awesome, the game was pretty good and the Wings won in a shoot out. We got home really late, like on Friday morning at 2:00 AM. Here's some photos from that.
Here's a few out over the ice from our seats


Here's a face off showing how close we were to the goal. That net down there, that's where all the pucks went in. San Jose scored first, then they switched ends and Detroit scored to tie the game. Then the shoot out, Detroit scored twice and San Jose never did score. Awesome game, awesome seats.

Another face off.



There I am getting cozy with a really cute date. We were really lucky, the people around us were good fans, no one dumped beer on us and there wasn't anyone rude nearby.

Friday the boys and I headed out for an overnighter at Yankee Springs Recreational Area. Really a great weekend for camping out. Nice and warm. We got there late on Friday afternoon, the boys were able to set up camp by the headlights of the cars. After dinner the other leader and I set up our tents, on opposite sides of the campsite. That's kind of funny, the Scoutmaster thinks I'll be able to help keep the boys quiet so he always puts me down by the rowdy kids, but I fall asleep faster than anyone else and if I am sleeping with my good ear in the pillow, I can't hear anything. As I typed that, I thought, wait a minute, what if he's just trying to get further away from my rock the house snoring? Then I realized that's OK, I have the new bite splint and I snore no more, as long as I wear it. A few photos from our 4 mile hike are below. I am trying to convince the boys that a hike is really nothing more than messing around with a destination or two thrown in. They weren't buying it.

While on the walk we came upon a classic oxymoron signage situation. We all enjoyed a great laugh.

Ian found a classic log across a gully and had to scoot across.

While on the the messing around with a destination the scouts decided, at about the 1/2 way point, that they wanted to grab some firewood for when we returned. I tried to tell them that we'd be seeing lots more opportunities, but they insisted on dragging along some pretty good sized logs, like 3" diameter and 12 to 15 feet long. By the end of the hike some had dropped their prized possessions, but a few remained and here we have Spencer enjoying the fire.

This coming week will have me travelling to partake in a supplier day for a few days and then going to Arizona for the Green Build show.
Have a great day!

Pat